Book of Bone and Ebony
Book of Bone and Ebony
Book of Bone and Ebony
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GRAVE GOODS SHAPING TECHNIQUE<br />
Cost: 2 motes<br />
Duration: One day<br />
Type: Simple<br />
Minimum Conviction: 3<br />
Minimum Essence: 3<br />
Prerequisite Charms: Soulsteel Shaper<br />
As the ghost artisan approaches master status, he<br />
gains the ability to modify relics that echo into the deadl<strong>and</strong>s<br />
from the living world as part <strong>of</strong> a character’s Grave Goods<br />
Background. With this Arcanos, a ghost artisan can (slowly)<br />
transform a grave good into another form without changing<br />
its nature or magical Traits. The artisan cannot remove<br />
more than about 10 percent <strong>of</strong> the grave good’s mass if he<br />
wants it to retain any magical properties, nor can he add<br />
more than about 10 percent in new materials. For example,<br />
the artisan might transform a relic sword into a shield or a<br />
group <strong>of</strong> steel mugs. The transformed item remains composed<br />
<strong>of</strong> the same materials — a transformed sword remains<br />
mostly steel, a transformed chair mostly wood. If the relic<br />
is transformed into a group <strong>of</strong> items, those items only retain<br />
any magical properties when they are together. It takes<br />
seven days per dot <strong>of</strong> the Grave Goods Background to<br />
modify a relic in this fashion, which means that a ghost<br />
who wishes to change any potent grave good must be<br />
prepared to spend a great deal <strong>of</strong> Essence to do so.<br />
SOULSTEEL REBUILDING TECHNIQUE<br />
Cost: 3 motes<br />
Duration: One day<br />
Type: Simple<br />
Minimum Conviction: 3<br />
Minimum Essence: 4<br />
Prerequisite Charms: Soulsteel Shaper<br />
As the ghost artisan approaches master status, he gains<br />
the ability to modify soulsteel artifacts. With this Arcanos,<br />
a ghost artisan can (slowly) transform an artifact made<br />
mostly or entirely <strong>of</strong> soulsteel into another form without<br />
changing its nature or magical Traits. The artisan cannot<br />
remove more than about 10 percent <strong>of</strong> the artifact’s mass if<br />
he wants it to retain its magical properties, nor can he add<br />
more than about 10 percent in new materials. The artisan<br />
might transform a soulsteel suit <strong>of</strong> armor into a different sort<br />
<strong>of</strong> armor, for example, or a mated pair <strong>of</strong> swords.<br />
Essentially, any purely physical transformation can be<br />
made that does not alter the item’s various artifact subratings,<br />
such as Usefulness, Game Impact or Script<br />
Immunity, as per Savant <strong>and</strong> Sorcerer, Chapter Two. It is<br />
possible that the Storyteller will allow changes to the<br />
item’s Usefulness or Game Impact through this Charm,<br />
but changes to the item’s Power, Script Immunity <strong>and</strong><br />
49<br />
CHAPTER TWO • THE ARTS OF THE DEAD<br />
Essence Drawback are explicitly forbidden. If a single<br />
artifact is transformed into a group <strong>of</strong> items, those items<br />
only retain their magical properties when they are together.<br />
It takes seven days per dot <strong>of</strong> the Artifact Background<br />
to modify a soulsteel artifact in this fashion, which means<br />
that a ghost who wishes to change any potent artifact must<br />
be prepared to spend a great deal <strong>of</strong> Essence to do so.<br />
SOULSTEEL FORGING<br />
Cost: 5 motes<br />
Duration: One day<br />
Type: Simple<br />
Minimum Conviction: 4<br />
Minimum Essence: 4<br />
Prerequisite Charms: Soulsteel Rebuilding Technique<br />
Given a quantity <strong>of</strong> raw soulsteel, a ghost-artisan with<br />
this Charm may help to forge it into a new artifact. Such<br />
an artifact lacks magical Traits beyond the st<strong>and</strong>ard abilities<br />
conveyed by soulsteel as a Magical Material (in the<br />
h<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> an Abyssal Exalt, a soulsteel melee weapon gets<br />
+1 accuracy <strong>and</strong> drains Essence from the target when<br />
damage is done, while soulsteel armor gets +2 soak when<br />
attuned by an Abyssal, <strong>and</strong> so on — see Exalted, Chapter<br />
Nine, for details). Creation <strong>of</strong> the soulsteel item takes as<br />
long as it would take to craft an item out <strong>of</strong> ordinary steel<br />
in Creation, but this Arcanos must be activated every day<br />
in order to do so.<br />
SOULSTEEL MINER’S SENSE<br />
Cost: 5 motes<br />
Duration: One hour per success<br />
Type: Simple<br />
Minimum Conviction: 3<br />
Minimum Essence: 3<br />
Prerequisite Charms: Soulsteel Rebuilding Technique<br />
While active, this Charm gives a ghost the same sense<br />
that a spectre has within the Labyrinth — the ability to<br />
more easily detect soulsteel veins within the stone <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Labyrinth itself. The player <strong>of</strong> the ghost using this Arcanos<br />
rolls Perception + Craft, <strong>and</strong> for every success, the ghost<br />
can aid in the search for soulsteel for one hour. This aid<br />
comes in the form <strong>of</strong> a -1 difficulty on any roll to find or<br />
mine soulsteel.<br />
TENACIOUS MERCHANT’S WAY<br />
The merchants <strong>of</strong> the dead mostly deal in artifacts <strong>and</strong><br />
relics rather than in coin <strong>and</strong> jewels, though most kingdoms<br />
<strong>of</strong> the dead do have money <strong>of</strong> a sort. In any event,<br />
Essence is the most important coin <strong>of</strong> the Underworld.<br />
These Arcanoi allow a ghostly merchant to move Essence<br />
from ghost to ghost, typically taking his own cut in the<br />
process as a broker’s fee.